The New Beginning of Bree Cullen
by ThaliaGrace318
Summary: Bree Tanner was reborn into a world with unknown rules, a life of blood, death and darkness. Now given a second chance as Bree Cullen, will she be able to overcome her past, to control her darker nature and live in the light, or will she succumb to the call of blood and death once again?
1. Welcome

**Bree Cullen**

 _"Bree's not really given a chance. She wants to be good, but nobody gives her a chance. She doesn't know the rules, and so how can you follow rules that you don't know. So it's not her fault, but she gets punished anyway."_

― Actress Jodelle Ferland on her character Bree

* * *

 **Author's note** : This story is my attempt at a continuation of the Eclipse novella 'The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner', with the difference being that in my version she survives after Eclipse (obviously). I for one would have like to have seen how this young newborn vampire would have tried to build a new life for herself if she was given the chance. So let's see how it goes...

* * *

.

 **Chapter 1 - Welcome**

Bewildered. Amazed. Relieved.

None of these words were strong enough to encompass what I was feeling as I stood among those who just this morning I thought were my enemies. Esme stood behind me, her hands resting lightly on my shoulders. Before, I would have been on edge, if not outright terrified, to have someone at my back like that, but it was oddly reassuring to have her so near even with the confusion and uncertainty I still felt.

Before, when I'd made the effort to think through the haze of bloodlust, I'd worked out for myself that other vampires must stay hidden from humans, which means they must have places to go out of sight during the day. But I hadn't imagined a place like the house I stood in now. Most of the first floor was one big room, with glass doors taking up an entire wall. It was so light and open; there was an elegant feel to it. Everything in it was tasteful, expensive but not gaudy.

It certainly didn't look like a fitting haunt for monsters. But then again, these yellow-eyed vampires didn't seem like monsters at all. They were all relaxed around each other – nobody watching their back, nobody snarling or snapping at each other, or showing the slightest hint of fear or hostility. And this place they lived in, it looked like- like a home… a home for a family.

In the three months of my new life since I became a vampire, the places that I'd lived in were all basements, sealed up places underground. None of them could be called a home. And the ones I'd lived with were the farthest thing from a family you could imagine. It was a good day if someone didn't get a limb torn off, or worse.

There were very few good days.

But those days were past now. Anticipation hummed through me, though anticipation for what, I did not know. Maybe for something better? Anything different had to be better though, right? I couldn't imagine anything worse. But then again there was still so much that I did not know, about the world, about myself, about these strangers who'd spared my life and taken me in, even though I'd been created to kill them. All I knew was that I felt far safer and more accepted with the strange yellow-eyed coven than I ever had among the coven that I was born (or reborn) into. They had gone out on a dangerous limb, offering to take responsibility for me so that my life would be spared.

Their mind reader – I'd learned his name was Edward – was explaining to the rest now exactly why Jane and the other dark-cloaked Volturi had decided to let me live. "Aro's spoken about you before Carlisle, about the different life you follow. They're curious. They see her as an experiment," he nodded towards me, "to see what you would do with one who's been running wild for so long. How our life style would affect her."

"Aro always did like his experiments. He's always been curious…"

I listened to them while my eyes kept roving over everything around me and my mind kept spinning from everything that had happened in the last day, and how completely everything had changed for me…again.

From what I gathered, Aro was the leader of the Volturi, the vampire police, and he and Carlisle were old friends. If this Aro was anything like Jane and the other dark-cloaks, I had a hard time imagining that someone as kind as Carlisle called him friend.

I looked around at the seven yellow-eyed vampires, the Cullens. Esme had already told me everybody's names. Alice, the dark-haired pixy-like vampire, was sitting at the foot of the grand staircase with a far-away look in her eye; her gaze was unfocused like she was seeing something other than this room and the people around her. Emmett, the big brawny one was lounging on the couch with a big grin on his face. Rosalie, the tall blonde woman, was looking me over like she was studying me. Her face was closed off, but the look she gave me was almost…pitying I think. I looked away from her scrutiny.

There were traces of a human scent in the house as well, the scent of the girl who'd been with them in the clearing after the battle. My muscles tensed, my throat burned and venom pooled in my mouth at the memory of how close I'd been to the sweetest blood I'd ever smelled. Edward's friendly look turned to a glare – he'd seen the direction my thoughts were heading. Jasper hissed softly, and I wondered if he had some ability too to know what I was thinking or feeling. He'd been hovering near me this whole time, growling at me whenever the slightest impulse to act on my thirst came up before I was even consciously aware of it.

I didn't ask about the girl, Bella. I knew that they didn't want me near their pet human, and I didn't want to give them any reason to think that I would cause trouble. I was beginning to get a sense of how these older vampires viewed us – or just me, since all the others were dead. _Newborn_ , they'd called me. Like a baby; or a small child that needed to be watched so that it wouldn't make a mess.

My full attention turned back to the conversation when Carlisle asked if anyone had a problem with me staying with them. Nobody had objected in front of the Volturi, but that might have been just them presenting a united front. Maybe now in the safety of their home someone would object to keeping me. I held my breath while I waited to hear their answers.

"Alice?"

As Carlisle called her name, she looked up from whatever trance she was in and smiled. "It's going to be fun having a new little sister," she said with certainty.

I started at the word sister. Is that what they were to each other – brothers and sisters? With what I knew of vampires, it was almost incomprehensible; A few hours ago, that concept would have seemed like an impossibility to me in the limited world that I knew.

But here, it seemed to fit. It felt…right.

"Jasper?"

"I thought I was done dealing with newborns when I left the south. But I suppose I could deal with one more," said Jasper. Strangely though, he no longer sounded hostile now that the danger of his coven being punished for keeping me seemed to have passed. And I think Alice voting in my favour might have softened him. In fact, it was- it almost sounded like he was teasing me.

"Emmett?"

"I say let her stay. Maybe she'll liven things up around here." Emmett laughed and winked at me. It looked like he'd enjoyed everything that had happened so far; the battle that had been so terrifying for me was little more than a game for him.

"Rosalie?"

Rosalie's cold look defrosted a little. She smiled slightly and nodded.

I let out a breath of relief that no one seemed to be against me. I had no idea what I'd do if I was sent away, alone; or if someone disagreed, if I would even be allowed to leave. They'd told the Volturi that they would be responsible for me. I know that Carlisle and Esme had been against killing me on the battlefield when they saw that I didn't want to fight. But Jasper had been ready to kill me, and I was pretty sure he still would if I was in any way a threat to his coven.

I looked over my shoulder at Esme. I was pretty sure that her vote was the one that really counted. Her and Carlisle.

"It's alright. You're safe now." I tensed a little as Esme put her arms around me, but then relaxed just as quickly. It was just a hug; I put my arms around her too, felling protected, safe like she said. It was the first friendly contact I'd had with another vampire since my new life began.

This felt like another new beginning.

Carlisle smiled warmly at me. "Welcome to the family Bree."

Family. That's what they were. Not a coven, a family. Brothers and sisters…a mother and father.

I had a family

XXXXX

* * *

 **Author's note:** Please comment and review. Let me know what you would like to see as Bree Cullen's story develops. All views and opinions are welcome :)

Thank you


	2. Wolves

**Chapter 2 – Wolves**

Confusing…Baffling…Amazing…

Those were just some of the words to describe my new life.

Running through the woods in broad daylight was way different from skulking over the rooftops and through the dark alleys of the city in the dead of night. There were no people around for miles and I could cut loose without having to worry about being seen. I could run so fast that to human eyes I would be nothing but a blur. Threads of sunlight that reached through the clouds refracted off of my skin in small rainbow arcs.

Everything that I had been told by my creator about being a vampire had pretty much been a lie. Her minion Riley had told me and all the others she'd created that the thing about vampires burning in the sun was true, that if we stayed out past dawn we would be burned to ash. It was one of their ways of controlling us, giving us a reason to come back after we hunted. Blood was all we'd thought of. None of us had ever thought past the need to hunt to consider that we could just go off on our own; we didn't have the presence of mind for that. We had a base so we returned to it.

Anyway, that was one of a long list of lies. I was learning so much more now – what's truth, and what's myth; the rules and laws, and what would happen if I broke them.

The Cullens were very, _very_ different than the ones I lived with before. Very different from all vampires, I was guessing. Not just that they weren't all vicious and hostile towards each other. No, it was a lot more than that. The way they bickered and argued, but in a good-natured way, the way siblings might; the way they lived in a nice home like a (somewhat) normal family; the way – and this part was the strangest of all – that they interacted with humans.

Carlisle was a Doctor; he actually worked in a hospital in the nearby town.

How? How could he stand to be around injured and bleeding humans all day? How could any of them stand to be around humans, to walk through the town like they were no different from the people there, like they weren't surrounded by sweet smelling prey?

The answer was as simple as it was impossible: The Cullens didn't hunt humans! They fed on animals instead.

I didn't understand when they first told me this. How could they just…not hunt? Didn't the thirst sear their throats like it did mine, the burn growing fiercer and spreading through their bodies the longer they went without blood? The burn in my throat was a near constant companion, demanding to be satisfied, and that fire could only be put out with blood. And the Cullens just didn't hunt! Out of everything that I had been learning recently, that was the most incomprehensible, mind-boggling concept of all.

Except…maybe it wasn't.

Carlisle told me the story of how he became a vampire nearly 400 years ago. I knew I was immortal now, but that stretch of time amazed me. Back before, I remember proudly telling one of the others in my old coven when he asked that I was three months old; I was proud of it because I wasn't _as_ mindless and blood crazed as the newer ones. But after hearing Carlisle's age, I really did feel like what the Cullens called me: a newborn, a baby vampire.

Was that why all the Cullens could control themselves so much better than me; was it just because they were older? Would I become more clearheaded as I got older, not so easily distracted by blood? I hoped so. It was nice when I was able to think about something other than how thirsty I was.

Anyway, back to Carlisle. He has never killed a human, not once! And I guess I could sort of understand. Carlisle was so…good. Just purely good; there really was no other way to say it. Even the pleasure of feeding would not be a pleasure for him if it meant harming someone (a human someone, but still). And he had created the others; he was a father to them in every way that mattered besides actually being related. They all chose for themselves to follow his way.

I don't know how many humans I'd killed in the three and a half months I'd been a vampire before the Cullens took me in. It had never mattered before. They were just prey. The need for blood, to sooth the burn in my throat, drove all of my thoughts then; the only thought given to them was to choose people who wouldn't be missed and to hide or burn the bodies when I was done so it wouldn't end up in the news.

But that was sort of changing…I think.

Before, when I was living with the other newborns that my creator had made, every day-and-night consisted of hunting and trying not to end up fighting the others for food, and hiding, trying not to draw unwanted attention to myself from the others who might want to tear my head off just because they could.

The Cullens showed me a completely different life, one where I didn't have to be afraid, where I could trust the people around me. Carlisle and Esme showed me nothing but kindness and acceptance from the start. In a short time, they had become more like family to me than my human parents had ever been (But I didn't want to think about that. Looking at human memories, even pleasant ones, was uncomfortable). I wanted that. I wanted this life. I didn't want to fight. I didn't want to hurt anyone. And more than anything, I wanted to be a part of this family.

And to be a Cullen, I had to hunt their way.

That's what I was doing now. I was out hunting with Edward and Carlisle.

Jasper, though initially he'd been the most reluctant to let me join the family – and I was still pretty sure he'd take my head off if I lost it and did something that threatened to expose them – had sort of been acting as my keeper. He was the one who was always watching me. But he wasn't with us on this hunt; he was off somewhere with Alice. That was fine by me. Jasper was a little… He scared me. Kind of a lot. It wasn't that he'd threatened me or done anything to me – he was as nice to me as the others – but just looking at him I could see that he was dangerous, even without knowing his story. His skin was completely covered in scars that could only have been made by venom. How many vampires had tried to kill him? And he'd killed every one of them.

In a fight against Jasper, I knew that I wouldn't last a minute. Some of my own human blood still lingered in me – that was what made newborns stronger than 'mature' vampires – but Jasper had centuries of experience in battle with the scars to prove it. He'd been in more battles than I could imagine and he'd never lost.

As it turned out, Jasper and I actually had something in common. He was different from the other Cullens in that he hadn't been 'born' into the family; Carlisle wasn't his creator. Like me, he'd been created to be part of a newborn army. He said that they were common in the South where larger clans fought for territory. His creator had made him knowing that he would be what they called 'gifted'. It turned out that I was right when I thought he, like Edward, had some ability to know what I was thinking or feeling. Jasper could sense everyone's emotions, and even sort of control them, make people feel what he wanted them to. It was weird. Because he had this ability, his creator had put him in charge of training the newborns that she made to fight, keeping them under control…and destroying them when they outgrew their usefulness.

That's what he'd meant when he said he had experience dealing with newborns.

His story made me think that I never wanted to visit the South.

And I really didn't want to be something that he had to deal with.

One thing I could say about Jasper though was that he'd do anything to protect his family, I could see that. And that was another reason that, if I wanted to be a part of the Cullen family, I had to follow their rules.

So here I was, hunting out in the woods far from any hiking trails where humans might happen to be. I haven't been near humans since the Cullens took me in; they told me to stay away from the town and I did. Though the thirst clawed at me like a fire inside my throat craving to be quenched by sweet fresh human blood, I resisted actively tracking down someone to kill. Carlisle and Esme had taken me hunting (animal hunting) a few times already, and though I didn't particularly enjoy it, I was getting used to it.

We'd already come across a solitary mountain lion, a lesser predator out hunting for a meal. The scent of animal blood had nowhere near the same pull as human blood, but the carnivores at least smelled better than the herbivores. Edward, being kind – the concept of kindness from another vampire just for the sake of being kind was still new to me – let me have the mountain lion even though it was his favourite, so I was less thirsty than when we'd started, and now we were tracking down the herd of deer that the unlucky lion had been hunting.

The scent was unappetizing but I let it pull me forward, let my mind slip into that of a predator; conscious coherent thought was pushed to the back as instinct took over. We were on the herd before they knew we were there. Carlisle took down his catch, snapping its neck quickly, while Edward went after the big buck. A small part of my mind registered what they were doing even as I took down my own prey. And then all other perception was shoved aside as I sank my teeth in and drank. It didn't have the sweet taste of human blood that my body craved. But I was thirsty, and blood was blood. It was finished way too soon. But I could still hear the sound of the other deer that'd scattered, and I took off after one. I was supposed to stay close to the others when we hunted, but that concern was pushed aside by my hunting drive as I raced away from them. Thirst was still driving me. The deer had a head start but it didn't matter; these feeble creatures could never outrun us.

"Bree, stop!" I heard Edward shout. But my mind was locked on the hunt, too far gone to register the alarm in his voice. There was nothing but the prey I was tracking, no instinct stronger than the need to feed.

A shift in the wind is what broke my focus. The scent hit me like running into a brick wall – a putrid smelling brick wall that pulled me up short a second before I was actually hit by something coming at me from the side, something strong enough to knock me down and chase the hunting haze from my mind. Pure reflex, I twisted away as I fell and managed to avoid the flash of teeth aimed at my throat. In the half-second before it was on me, I leapt back putting some space between me and it, a snarl on my lips as I landed in a crouch. The drive to hunt was replaced by the instinct to defend myself; the readiness to fight, or to run from the threat. When I saw what attacked me, my eyes widened and I thought running might be the better option.

It was a wolf. Like a really huge monster wolf, with hair the coulour of desert sand.

I knew instantly that this thing wasn't just an animal. One, it wasn't afraid of me; it faced me, all snarling fangs. Two, it was way too big, almost the size of a horse, and it was strong enough to knock me down. Three was the smell; the scent of it was disgusting, nothing like food. It almost made me gag and made my stomach roll. The repulsive smell also spoke to some instinct in me that said this thing was a threat, a real threat to me in a way I'd thought only another vampire could be. It was about to spring at me again, and my muscles coiled to respond.

"Seth, don't!"

The wolf stopped short, its nails digging furrows in the hard dirt as it skidded to a halt. Edward ran forward and put himself between it and me. At the sight of him, the wolf's posture changed. Its aggressiveness seemed to melt away; it stopped showing its teeth and its bristled fur lay down flat. It looked at Edward and gave a sort of wolfy grin which I might have found funny if I had a clue what was going on and if I wasn't so scared.

It wasn't the sandy wolf that had been about to take my head off that I was afraid of, though that was a significant part of it. No, what was really scary about it was that it wasn't alone. Looking past it, I saw two more wolves were coming up behind it. One was smaller and light gray; it had its teeth bared and the hair on the back of its neck bristled, all agitation and barely restrained hostility. The other, black as midnight, was unbelievably huge, a monster straight out of a nightmare – and that was coming from a vampire. The sandy wolf looked less scary, more gangly and uncoordinated next to the others.

"Sam," Carlisle said, coming to stand next to Edward between me and the approaching wolves. The black wolf moved to stand in front of the others – a leader asserting his position – and stood facing Carlisle. "We apologize for intruding. She didn't know about the border."

The sandy wolf wined softly and tipped its head to the side looking from him to me questioningly. The huge black one that I think was their leader growled in annoyance and the sandy wolf dropped its head and took a step back. The black wolf growled again, its gaze directed at Carlisle.

"This is Bree. She's with us now," Carlisle spoke like he expected the wolf to understand him. And maybe it did. I was already sure that it wasn't an ordinary wolf; its dark eyes studying us were way too intelligent for an animal.

"Your newborn came onto our land," Edward said in a monotone voice, and I knew he was translating what the wolf was thinking for the rest of us.

"The actions of an untaught child," Carlisle stated. "Treat them as such."

"If she trespasses again…"

"She won't," Carlisle assured them, "You have my word."

I could almost swear that the wolf's eyes held some respect as it looked at Carlisle. It gave one sharp nod. Carlisle nodded in return and then led the way back the way we came. This time I noticed where the scents around me changed like we'd crossed over some line; where the smell of the wolves began to fade. There was a border there and I ran right into it, too lost in my hunting frenzy to notice at the time. The wolves followed us, ensuring that we crossed back over the line back to what I assumed was our side. And then they turned and ran off, going deeper into their own territory. The sandy wolf looked back at me and gave a soft bark before it followed the others.

"What are those things?" I asked as we started on our way home.

"Wolves. Werewolves," said Edward. "That black one was their leader, Sam. The smallest one was Leah. And the one that tried to kill you is Seth. He said he's sorry."

"We have a treaty with them. I'll tell you the story when we get home," said Carlisle. "We shouldn't have been so close to the border."

Carlisle sighed and inwardly I cringed. They probably didn't have to worry about the border that much when I wasn't around because none of them ever lost it so much that they wouldn't have noticed it. Even if someone didn't know about it beforehand, the smell really was kind of hard to miss. But once again I'd been too – what was the opposite of clearheaded? I hoped whatever this treaty was, that I didn't screw it up by crossing the border by accident. And so now I knew, I wasn't supposed to go near the town, and I wasn't supposed to go near the wolves' land on the other side of that border. Like I said before, I was learning something new every day.

Today's lesson: Werewolves exist. Go figure.

"What happened?" Jasper asked when we got home, sensing with his ability how freaked out I still was.

"Bree just met the neighbours."

 **XXXXX**

* * *

 **Author's Note: Please comment and review. Reviews inspire updates :)**

 **Also, I need some ideas to help me continue the story. How do you think Bree and Seth should meet? And what else would you like to see with the new addition to the Cullen family?**

 **I would appreciate your help and any suggestions with this story.**


End file.
